DDO - intro

DDO - intro

About the DDO project

Just off International Avenue in Albert Park/Radisson Heights—a neighbourhood of multi-cultural families and mom and pop shops—sits 8.77 acres of potential known as the David D Oughton (DDO) school site. The site was home to a public elementary school for more than a half-century until the Calgary Board of Education declared it surplus and closed its doors in 2006. In 2008, the City of Calgary purchased the DDO site. In 2015, The City demolished the building and remediation work at the site was completed in 2017.

CMLC recognized the untapped potential for future development at the DDO site and its surroundings and knew that it was primed to start its next life as both a residential development and as a catalyst for economic development in a Calgary neighbourhood that’s vibrant but has often been overlooked. Following a robust community engagement program in 2017, CMLC identified the need for a developer-builder partner to finalize a new vision for the site.

In 2018, after CMLC finalized the purchase of the site from the City of Calgary, an RFP was issued to identify a developer who understood the vision for a neighbourhood embracing a neighbourhood, where the new development, though distinctive in style, respects the prevailing personality of the established community that surrounds it.

In 2019, local developer RNDSQRwas chosen as the ideal partner for this next chapter for the David D. Oughton Site. CMLC & RNDSQR share a desire to create places that make a difference and value complete, compact communities where walking is a viable way to get around. Both our organizations have experience in leveraging the potential of place, and we understand how development can be a tool of economic growth that can give communities confidence in their future.

Together with RNDSQR, we now begin the work to develop a new Outline Plan for the site that will deliver on our project goals.